Daisy Lowe and The National Lottery highlight climate threat

These thought-provoking images (seen below) showing how 4 iconic sites might be affected by climate change, have been created by The National Lottery with the help of the fashion model and environmentalist Daisy Lowe. Timed to mark the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the images are designed to encourage the public to act now in the fight against global warming.

Daisy said, “Thankfully the news isn’t all bad and you can make a big difference. Perhaps there is a disused rooftop that could be turned into public space or a green area near your home that could be conserved. If you have always wanted to make a difference in your local community, why not look at the funding available from The National Lottery.”

The National Lottery has awarded grants worth £2.2billion over the past decade to projects supporting environmental good causes. In the last year alone, £60MMillion has been awarded to 730 green projects from community groups preserving natural habitats, to art installations educating young people on climate change, to full-scale landscape restorations.

Daisy, who features in each of the digitally-altered before and after images, said, “The climate emergency is everybody’s business, and we all have a responsibility to protect the environment for future generations. Hopefully these images will capture people’s imagination into taking action as we can all see what the repercussions might look like and it’s rather terrifying.”

Research commissioned as part of the campaign finds that 73% of adults admit they are not doing enough to help save the planet.

The new research also revealed the initiatives UK adults would take to address climate change if they were a global leader. The largest group (61%) would reduce single use plastics, while 50% would support a circular economy prioritising recycling, refurbishing and reusing. Just over a quarter (28%) would reduce the number of flights people can take each year and 27% would reduce the sale of non-electric cars.

Ros Kerslake CBE, chief executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund said, “While the world focusses on COP26, we must each focus on what we can do, as organisations and as individuals, to slow the rate of climate change. We ask that projects funded through The National Lottery each play their part, whether it’s small changes, such as introducing community recycling bins, to large-scale environmental projects restoring precious peatlands. Across the country, we are working together with the good causes we support to lead, inspire and raise awareness of how and why we need to change our behaviour in order to protect the future of our planet.”

8th November 2021